Back in 2006 I decided to cook all 1293 recipes in "The Gourmet Cookbook." It took a few years, but I made them all! Now I have moved on to the over 1100 recipes in "Gourmet Today." I anticipate several more years of kitchen fun!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

There was some leftover bacon in Matt's freezer, so I chose this recipe to use it up. This bacon was pretty tasty. The brown sugar complimented the bacon wonderfully. I wasn't as sold on the cayenne -- it contributed a nice spice, but there was a bit too much of it. I was hoping the sugar mixture would form a nice glaze on the bacon, but it didn't melt completely before the bacon started to burn. The winning aspect of this recipe was definitely baking the bacon on the broiler pan in the oven. The bacon came out fantastically crispy and I appreciated the fact that it was much less greasy that a more canonical bacon preparation. If I did it again, I would cut the cayenne in half and sprinkle the sugar mixture on the bacon about 10 minutes earlier in the baking time.

The days around and including the Talbot conference are always some of my favorites of the year. The trickle of good friends arriving in town has already started. Andre is here now, Chris is arriving on Thursday, and Mike and Vigleik will be here this weekend. I miss all those guys so much -- it will be great to be all together again! I think I am still adjusting to not having Mike and Vigleik around this year! The three of us haven't been in the same place at the same time since the summer.

Throughout my time at MIT, the topology group has been a really special collection of people. Talbot is a chance for us all to reunite -- the people currently in the group and all the great people who have graduated and moved on.

Plus, some of the guys are staying for my defense, which I am really excited about! Honestly, it's hard for me to imagine defending my thesis without Vigleik, or Mike, or Chris in the audience. They have been such a huge part of my graduate school experience. I am thrilled that they will be there to (hopefully!) celebrate with me.